The then rookie sensation scored his maiden win in 2007, a race that also featured Robert Kubica's monumental crash. In 2008 the old karting rivals' fortunes were almost reversed as Hamilton retired after an embarrassing collision in the pit lane with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, letting the Pole slip in for his own first win.

But neither of those races feature in what is our first classic races selection for Canada - the BBC only taking the UK TV rights back from ITV last year.

Instead, to whet your appetites for the race on 13 June, we have chosen a mix of what we hope will show the very best of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Your job, as regular readers will know, is to tell us which one you think is the best. We will use those views to inform our choice as to which one to highlight next week in the run-up to the race.

That means that if the selected event is from the 'BBC era' - ie before 1997 - we will broadcast the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme shown on TV at the time, along with the shorter edits we cut for all the races.

So here's the selection:

1979 - After winning the inaugural race at what was then called the Circuit Ile Notre Dame in 1978 to become a national hero, Gilles Villeneuve did not repeat his feat the following year - but this was nevertheless one of the greatest drives by the man for whom the track was named after his death in 1982.

Villeneuve lined up second on the grid to Williams's Alan Jones, who had dominated the second half of the season, and the Australian's car advantage was plain to see from the 0.7-second margin between himself and the Ferrari in qualifying.

But making one of the super-quick starts for which he was to become famous, Villeneuve edged ahead of Jones into the first corners - then a high-speed esses, which no longer features on the track, it having long ago been deemed too fast and dangerous.

That was the start of an intense race-long duel between the two men as they left the rest of the field behind.

Jones tracked Villeneuve, who was working wonders to keep the slower Ferrari ahead, until the Ferrari began visibly losing grip, and Jones finally sneaked ahead into the hairpin with 21 laps to go, the two rubbing wheels as the Williams took the lead.

After dropping back a little, Villeneuve regrouped and came back at his rival, and they spent the closing laps circulating in close formation, Jones crossing the line a second ahead.

1986 - a race that confirmed the superiority of the Williams-Hondas early in a season in which one of their drivers should have won the title. Equally, though, it demonstrated partly why they ultimately lost the championship to McLaren's Alain Prost, then at the height of his powers in an inferior car.

Williams driver Nigel Mansell took a dominant victory from pole position, but Prost finished second, ahead of the Englishman's team-mate Nelson Piquet with a drive that, like Villeneuve's in 1979, was one of his best.

Qualifying only fourth, Prost moved ahead of Piquet at the start and immediately found himself being held up by Ayrton Senna's Lotus, which had qualified on the front row.

Not in the mood to hang around, Prost pulled a quite superb overtaking move on the Brazilian which was particularly brave given Senna's already well established reputation for taking a no-compromise approach.

The Frenchman went around the outside of Senna into the first, right-handed part, of the flat-out-in-top Esses, and chopped across into the following left, forcing Senna to lift and put two wheels on the grass.

It was, as my former Autosport colleague Nigel Roebuck put it at the time, "as cold-blooded a pass as any you will see" - and quite in contrast to the cautious reputation Prost developed, largely unfairly, later in his career.

1991 - from the sublime to the ridiculous for Mansell. He had dominated the race but got a bit carried away with himself on the last lap. Waving at the crowd, Mansell let the revs drop too low and the car stalled and, lacking enough power to drive the hydraulics, Mansell could not select a gear.

He was out of the race with less than a mile to go, and a joyous Piquet - Mansell's bitterest rival - swept by to win the race for Benetton, and totally failed to hide his joy at the Williams man's mistake.

1995 - for a long time this was looking like another routine victory for Michael Schumacher as he marched inexorably to his second world title. But after dominating the race the German's Benetton suffered an electrical problem with 11 laps to go that left it stuck in third gear.

Schumacher pitted and the team, suspecting the fault was with the gearchange paddles, fitted a new steering wheel. This solved the problem, and Schumacher rejoined in fifth place, from where he set a series of fastest laps as he chased Olivier Panis's Ligier for fourth place.

Meanwhile, the lead was inherited by Ferrari's Jean Alesi, and the Frenchman went on to score what turned out to be the only victory of his F1 career.

It sent the Ferrari-mad crowd wild as they witnessed the first win for one of the Italian cars in Montreal for 10 years.

They broke through the fences and invaded the track. Meanwhile, Alesi ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap and coasted to a halt at the hairpin, climbing out of his car and standing on its nose as it rolled to a stop.

He was given a lift back to the pits by Schumacher, an image that was given added poignancy when it emerged soon afterwards that Schumacher would be taking Alesi's seat at Ferrari the following year.

1998 - one of those races that has forged Montreal's reputation for providing non-stop action, this was an incident-strewn classic.

Wurz's specacular crash was just the start of the drama in Montreal in 1998. Photo: Getty

There were two first-corner crashes - one at the re-start after Alexander Wurz had rolled his Benetton at the first green light; two safety cars; Jacques Villeneuve threw away the chance to emulate his father's victory on his home track with a crass error; and Schumacher won despite a 10-second penalty for driving Williams's Heinz-Harald Frentzen clean off the track upon rejoining from the pits.

Quite a choice, I hope you will agree. I look forward to reading your responses.

Comment number 6.

That's a tough decision to make a choice out of any of that lot. That said, I'll go for 1979 - the sight of Villeneuve and Jones scrapping throughout the race is enough for anyone to call it a classic. It'll also show viewers how the track used to look (the start line was just after the hairpin in the old days).

Comment number 7.

I'm going for 1995. It was the first F1 race I remember watching properly and I've always liked Ferrari since then. I haven't seen any extended highlights of the race since it was on so would like to see them again.

Comment number 9.

Comment number 10.

1979 please- great chance to see Gilles Villeneuve on his home circuit.

Somewhere I still have the 1993 Canadian race in full. It wasn't particularly memorable except for Senna retiring late on, but it is James Hunt's last ever commentary for the BBC, because later that Sunday night he suffered the heart attack that killed him. There's a great article from Autosport by Nigel Roebuck in tribute. Unfortunately you have be a subscriber to be able to read it in full; this is the list of Roebuck's top 50 articles where the list can be found anyway. http://www.autosport.com/roebuck/

Comment number 17.

Why couldnt you put the radio commentary over the 2008 video, or at least get Jonathan Legard to do another of the report style videos, with clips of Brundle's commentary - you have done both for other 'ITV' races already this season. I had really hoped 2008 would be included as 1 of the 5 for this.

I guess Ill go for 1995 instead then (Its pointless voting for 1998, you get the same highlights whether it wins or loses)

Comment number 22.

mmmmm - My purist heart longs for Villeneuve, but ultimately he lost. I like something a little more uplifting. Alesi's win in the ferrari was someone else's misfortune. But crashes - they lift the soul like nothing else - I'm voting for the crashes - 1998 carbon fiber festival please.

Comment number 23.

Comment number 24.

Andrew, will 1998 be coming with ITV commentary from Murray Walker and Derek Warwick? Note to those above - Brundle never commentated on the race. I'd like to think that 1998 will not be getting redubbed with Legard commentary.

Comment number 25.

1998 has to be first; for all the crashes and drama. having not seen any earlier ones, (born 1992), 1991 sounds jokes just for Mansell's blunder, and 1995 for an uncharacteristic show of sportmanship from Schumi. If I had to pick one, it'd be 1998.

Comment number 26.

1995 definitely, every time. Not only did Jean Alesi get that one and only win, but he drove superbly throughout. I can clearly recall him overtaking team mate Berger going under the bridge whilst immediately in front of them both was David Coulthard doing a 360 spin! He then took Damon Hill cleanly into the hairpin a few laps later. Magnificent. Maybe Vettel & Webber should have a look at that to see how you overtake without taking your team mate out?

Comment number 34.

Comment number 35.

"It sent the Ferrari-mad crowd wild as they witnessed the first win for one of the Italian cars in Montreal since their hero Villeneuve's in 1978."

Rene Arnoux in 1983 and Michele Alboreto in 1985 both won for Ferrari in Montreal.

Alesi was celebrating his 31st birthday on that day in 1995. I don't think I have ever been as close to shedding tears of joy at watching a motor race as I was when Crazy Jean took his only win. He last of an sadly extinct breed.

My vote has to go with 1979, however. 18 drivers that started that race completed their careers with at least one Grand Prix victory, five of them won the Drivers Championship; what a classy field!

Comment number 43.

Comment number 44.

It's 1998 for me please Andrew, an incident filled classic! It's great that Canada is back on the calendar this year, and the news that a race in the US is back for the 2012 season. If only from the point of view that these races, along with Brazil, take place in "prime time" in the UK and its a really good time to watch a Grand Prix. All we need now is another race in the US, to get back to the old US Grand Prix West and US Grand Prix East format plus a return to Argintina.

Comment number 45.

Can understand people not being happy that some races have been missed out, but there's been so many exciting Canadian races, that to choose just 5, and keep everyone happy, would be impossible. Also I think Andrew didn't want it to be 5 ITV races, which is understandable. I'm sure some of the races mentioned which have been missed this year will be included next year.

Comment number 58.

I'll vote for 1995. Alesi was my hero back then, such a passionate charachter (probably from being half itailan) and yet he never really delivered because his charachter always got the better of him. I think that was his best season for ferrari.

I'd really like to see 1998 but i think that was during the ITV era so the highlights will be plain and dull (despite Murray's commentary)

Comment number 61.

1998 - and I am so glad that Canada is back on the calendar, great race, always action, and a track with concrete walls and not much run off to punish the drivers who make mistakes! and the incidents never seem to be small, added rain, and the lottery becomes infinite.. top 10 for 1 or 2 of the new teams!!! :)

Comment number 63.

@Swerve1(#56), at the same time though, Derek Warwick did commentary for that race, and he's not a member of the BBC team (it was a 1 off, as Brundle was at Le Mans the same weekend), but you could argue that it was a 1 off, and that although it was with ITV, it was just a 1 off, and so they ought to be able to show the 1998 race with original commentary (ie Murray and Derek), after all, it's not like he was a regular commentator for ITV, it was an enforced change, much like Blundell replacing Brundle for the 1999 race for the same reason (Brundle at Le Mans), and so it shouldn't mean that the commentary should be redubbed in my opinion, but maybe Andrew would be so kind as to clarify this, and take into account it was an enforced 1 off change, and he wasn't a regular commentator.

Comment number 67.

All very good choices despite no 2007 or 2008 (maybe next year guys!). Of the choices I'll go for Alesi's win in 1995 please, just because it was a special win for an exciting driver (and Schumacher didn't win!).

However, as mentioned above, I am happy with all of them apart from poor old Nige in 1991. I was a massive Mansell fan and I remember being a very upset 6 year old watching my hero grind to a halt with victory only just up the road. What made it worse was that Piquet won, and he loved every minute of Nige's misfortune. I'm glad Nelson never won another GP after that though, so there is some justice ;-)

Do you reckon there will be some footage of Kubica's crash in 2007 over the weekend??!! It's amazing that he came back and won the next year - a great F1 story. That's my vote for classic Canadian GP section in 2011...

Comment number 68.

where is the 2007 race, it was lewis's first win, so that alone should have put it up there, plus it was in martin brundles words a "crazy race", 4 safety cars and one of the biggest accidents in formula one in recent years. if not the race put some clips from the race up or something!

Andrew, 1998 seems quite popular at the momemnt. If it wins the 'popular vote', will we still get a full BBC highlights programme for one of the other choices as we will only get a ten minute clips from ITV for '98?

Comment number 81.

To post 64, what I've written is the truth about 1991. I've spoken to Patrick Head about it several times, as has my friend Joe Saward, who wrote this: http://grandprix.com/gpe/rr505.html.

As for there being no 2007 or 2008, we can't win with you guys, can we?! One minute you complain about us putting in ITV races because there'll be no extended highlights, another you accuse us of always picking a "Hamilton race", another you don't like us not choosing a race that Hamilton won, even though there have been many better races in Canada, and the next you don't like the fact that we've deliberately limited the ITV choices despite all the great races that took place in those 12 years...

Rest assured, there is plenty of Kubica planned for the TV coverage, and of course we will also talk over the weekend about this being the scene of two of Hamilton's landmark moments - as I mention in the blog.

Comment number 85.

Comment number 86.

I was surprised at the apparent bias shown towards Button last weekend - he clearly disobeyed instructions (or deliberately misunderstood to his advantage) and even bickered with Hamilton in earshot of the cameras at the podium back room. That wasn't even touched on by your 'experts'. I imagine if Lewis had been the instigator it would have been top of your agenda after the Red Bull incident. I would feel exactly the same as Lewis in that situation and surprised the BBC didn't examine it.

Comment number 88.

If I recall correctly, wasn't there another theory that he accidentally hit a kill switch on the steering wheel, with his waving hand? I was far too young to appreciate F1 at that time, so I'm glad we will get to see a short video of it, because I've always wanted to hear Murray Walker's reaction!

It's awfully funny but I still love the guy and I don't mean to belittle him like many cynics do. He's definitely ranked amongst my all-time favourite F1 drivers, and British sportsmen in general. Without his mistakes and his bad luck he would have been a 3 time champ. I love Mansell's grit and gusto that gave us moments like the 1987 British Grand Prix, a true classic of the sport. And his spectacular style, that's what really gets me with a sportsman, it's either the spectacular style (like Alex Higgins) or the fighting quality (like John McEnroe or Rafael Nadal), and Mansell had both! How I wish he'd taken that '86 title if only to knock Prost out of one of his titles! It's Senna that should have had 4 titles not Prost!

Comment number 89.

1986 was a classic season, one of the best. So I'll go for that one. I have the FIA video for that (why don't they let Clive James commentate on modern F1? The viewing figures would rocket! Although the lawsuits probably would too...) but I don't remember seeing that move on Senna.

Comment number 96.

Comment number 97.

Eh? Have you gone bonkers? I'm sure over the number of years there'll be plenty of time to see canada 07. Although, if 08 was given a choice, you'd say it was a plot by showing a race that involved Mr. Hamilton screwing up...yada yada...

Comment number 99.

(Would have voted 1998 before I read others saying it was ITV era. Andrew, any chance you can make this obvious for future posts? And thanks for the hard work you do - sorry that you can't win with us lot!)

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